HYDERABAD: “Congress launched its manifesto today. Please read it here.... - Yours, Rahul Gandhi,” read SMSes on smartphones of many across the State on April 2. As the message said, the party had released its manifesto and was sending messages to prospective voters across the country to spread awareness. All fine, but, how did the party get the phone numbers of thousands, who are in no way connected to the party or who did not remember feeding their number to subscribe to notifications from Congress? Welcome to the world of targeted messaging, that — not just Congress, but all major political parties including BJP, AAP and many others, practice in order to reach out to voters.
How does it work?
Speaking to Express, Congress spokesperson Sravan Dasoju, explained: “There are a lot of organisations and private agencies who supply mobile numbers across the country (for a price). So typically, the numbers are segregated based on its owner’s age, location and messages are sent through WhatsApp, text messages or through voice calls.”
For instance, Dasoju said, if the party had to promote its education policies, it would, through the details embedded in one’s personal number, find out one’s age, which would further indicate whether the prospective voter is a student. If the person is one, then the student will be ‘messaged’ with the details.
While brushing off concerns about privacy, the AICC spokesperson further said: “This is the cheapest way to reach out to voters. It costs less than holding a rally or a public meeting. In this era, where politics is being increasingly commercialised and is increasingly becoming about money power, digital campaigns through WhatsApp and other platforms should be promoted.”
Safeguarding personal data
However, since the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal which revealed that the political consulting firm had harvested data of millions for political purposes, experts have been raising an alarm over safeguarding of personal data from possible exploitation by not just political parties but any company.
Highlighting the problems in this particular method, communications expert Kartik Srinivasan said: “The method deployed is quasi-legal. These numbers are harvested from any place — be it your bank, your network carrier, voter card details and so on. So these people assemble it and sell it to anyone for a price. One can get a targeted database for every kind of people.”
Srinivasan said that if one wishes to not receive such calls, they can complain to the Department of Telecommunications or install applications like Truecaller. “But you never know, Truecaller might be sending your details somewhere else,” he added.
For Jubilee Hills resident Anuradha Naik, this practice is an infringement of her privacy. “Apart from it violating my privacy, they are also a nuisance as these calls come at a time when one is busy with work.”
Naik has now enlisted her number in the do not disturb option of her mobile phone service provider.